Service improvements

London Borough of Barnet

Showing service improvements between 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2024

Find out more about service improvements

When we find fault, we can recommend improvements to systems and processes where they haven’t worked properly, so that others do not suffer from these same problems in future. Common examples are policy changes; procedural reviews; and staff training. Service improvements from decisions are published for 5 years and those from reports are published for 10 years.

Showing 1 - 10 of 12 cases with service improvements

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Downloads the current filtered list of service improvement decisions for London Borough of Barnet as a CSV file.

  • London Borough of Barnet (23 008 954)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 04-Mar-2024

    Summary

    Mrs D complained the Council failed to complete her father’s Continuing Health Care checklist correctly and it was not truthful about its actions. She also says the Council delayed providing urgent care to her father. We find the Council was at fault for failing to complete the checklist correctly and for failing to be truthful about its actions. It was also at fault for its delay in finding a nursing home placement for Mrs D’s father. The Council has agreed to our recommendations to address the injustice caused by fault.

    Service improvements

    The Council will issue written reminders to relevant staff to ensure that when a service user or their representative asks about a retrospective CHC assessment, they should make the appropriate enquiries with the NHS department to see if this is a possibility.

  • London Borough of Barnet (23 007 775)

    Category: Housing Date: 13-Feb-2024

    Summary

    the Council delayed processing Mr B’s homeless application, delayed completing a medical assessment, failed to properly consider the information Mr B provided, delayed offering him temporary accommodation and failed to notify him of his appeal rights. An apology, payment to Mr B and training for officers is satisfactory remedy.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind those carrying out medical assessments of the need to ensure the applicant’s representations and medical evidence are addressed in the decision about what type of property is suitable.The Council should arrange for a training session for officers dealing with homeless applicants to cover:what the code of guidance and law says in relation to assessing homeless applications;how to assess whether it is reasonable for an applicant to remain living in their accommodation;when a prevention duty is owed;when a relief duty is owed;when interim accommodation should be considered;when any prevention duty, relief duty and PHP should be reviewed;a reminder of the need to issue decisions with appeal rights in writing; anda reminder of the need to ensure PHP's are completed.

  • London Borough of Barnet (23 006 730)

    Category: Housing Date: 04-Jan-2024

    Summary

    the Council delayed resolving a mice infestation in Miss B’s temporary accommodation. An apology, payment to Miss B, visit to establish any further works required and procedural changes are satisfactory remedy.

    Service improvements

    The Council will ensure when repair works are identified for a property there is a process in place to ensure those works are overseen to prevent delay.

  • London Borough of Barnet (23 006 154)

    Category: Housing Date: 15-Dec-2023

    Summary

    Mr X complained the Council failed to take action against his landlord following his reports of disrepair at his rented property. The Council inspected Mr X’s property and found no category 1 hazards. However, it failed to record or determine whether any of Mr X’s concerns were category 2 hazards as outlined in the Housing Health and Safety Rating System. It also failed to prepare an accurate record of the inspection. The Council agreed to carry out a new inspection of Mr X’s property and remind inspecting officers to write accurate reports of their inspections.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind all Council officers who carry out private housing inspections to complete an accurate report of inspections which includes considerations of both category 1 and 2 hazards in line with the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS). The Council should ensure the officers write to complainants with a copy of the report outlining the conclusions of the inspection.

  • London Borough of Barnet (23 003 999)

    Category: Housing Date: 11-Oct-2023

    Summary

    Ms X complains about how the Council dealt with her homelessness application. The Council is at fault as it failed to properly consider the risk of domestic abuse to Miss X when she made a homelessness application, failed to provide interim accommodation, delayed in dealing with her homelessness application and wrongly focussed on sustaining Miss X’s tenancy which was unsustainable. As a result, Miss X and her children lived in unsuitable accommodation for longer than necessary which caused significant distress to them. Miss X may also have missed an opportunity for settled housing. The Council has agreed to remedy this injustice by apologising to Miss X and making a symbolic payment of £2500 to her.

    Service improvements

    By training, or other means, remind officers: i.the low threshold for triggering the duty to offer interim accommodation and,ii.that they must consider all aspects of an applicants housing situation and the provisions of chapter 21 of the homelessness code of guidance when considering if a person may be homeless.

  • London Borough of Barnet (23 000 719)

    Category: Benefits and tax Date: 08-Oct-2023

    Summary

    We found fault with the Council for the delay in sending the complainant (Ms X) her council tax bills and for providing insufficient support for Ms X when she tried to apply for Council Tax Support and Council Tax Discretionary Relief. This fault caused Ms X injustice. The Council agreed to apologise, make a symbolic payment to recognise Ms X’s distress and train its staff who deal with council tax enquiries.

    Service improvements

    The Council will ensure all staff in the contact centre who provide council tax support read our Focus Report 'Equal Access: Getting it right for people with disabilities' published in May 2022 and 'Principles of good administrative practice' issued in December 2018.

  • London Borough of Barnet (23 000 639)

    Category: Benefits and tax Date: 24-Oct-2023

    Summary

    Mr X complains the Council has not dealt properly with his Council Tax charges. The Council is at fault because it has failed to collect his Council Tax properly and has sent him incorrect demands for payment resulting in enforcement action being taken. Mr X suffered avoidable distress and had to unnecessarily had to spend time addressing multiple errors. The Council has apologised and offered to pay Mr X £200. The Council has agreed to apologise for further errors, pay Mr X a further £200 for additional avoidable distress and £100 for his time and trouble, make an application to Court to set aside a liability order and review its systems/processes.

    Service improvements

    Review its systems and processes to ensure that the problem of payments/compensation being applied to a Council Tax account cannot impact negatively on any other person liable for Council Tax, as it did for Mr X.

  • London Borough of Barnet (23 000 473)

    Category: Education Date: 02-Jan-2024

    Summary

    Mrs C complained the Council failed to find her son (X) a suitable school placement for the 2022/2023 academic year and failed to accept an offer from her preferred placement for the following year. We found the Council caused a delay and a service failure to find a school placement for X. It was also at fault for the delay in arranging suitable alternative provision for X. However, it did not fail to accept Mrs C’s preferred school. The Council will apologise and make to payment Mrs C for the injustice this cause her and X.

    Service improvements

    The Council will share with the Ombudsman, the Council’s review of its Local Offer to ensure it has enough mainstream schools, special schools and alternative provision to meet the needs of all children with special educational needs in its area.The Council will remind staff, responsible for arranging and approving alternative provision for children or young people who are not receiving an education in school, to properly consider whether further provision should be provided to meet special educational needs set out in EHC plans, including opportunities to engage with peers.

  • London Borough of Barnet (22 012 211)

    Category: Housing Date: 05-Jun-2023

    Summary

    Ms X complains on behalf of her father, Mr Y, that the Council failed to find suitable temporary accommodation despite knowing in advance the family was due to be evicted from their private rented property. We find the Council failed to act on its homelessness duties. These faults caused Mr Y distress and uncertainty. The Council has agreed to apologise to Mr Y and make a financial payment. This remedies the injustice caused.

    Service improvements

    The Council will circulate this decision to relevant staff and highlight the faults found. It should remind staff the code of guidance says councils should not consider it reasonable for homeless applicants to remain in a private tenancy up until the date the court issues a warrant for possession.The Council should consider providing relevant training to prevent the recurrence of the faults identified in this case.

  • London Borough of Barnet (22 011 740)

    Category: Benefits and tax Date: 02-Nov-2023

    Summary

    Mr X complains the Council failed to update its records regarding his liability for council tax and wrongly took recovery action against him. We have found the Council acted with fault, by failing to correctly update its records and failing to investigate Mr X’s liability at the earliest opportunity. We have also found the Council at fault for its record-keeping and inconsistent communication. We have made recommendations to remedy the injustice we believe this caused Mr X. We have also recommended the Council act to improve its services.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind its officers of the importance of keeping proper, suitable records, and ensure officers review the Ombudsman's published Principles of Good Administrative Practice guidance.The Council has agreed that senior officers will review the findings of this investigation. The Council will produce an action plan setting out how it intends to prevent the faults found here from occurring in the future. It will share this action plan with the Ombudsman.

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